It's been a big week for Conan O'Brien: he performed in LA, he cut Max Weinberg loose, and he made Time's "100 Most Influential Glee Cast Members and World Leaders" list. Still, it's all just prelude for O'Brien's some-holds-barred interview with 60 Minutes this weekend. CBS just released an excerpt -- what does the TBS-bound talk show host have to say?
more »
And now introducing Michael Atkinson's weekly selections of worthwhile films available on demand...
Still a Wild West of unaligned platforms, mismatched delivery systems and desperate-industry pricing schemes, Video on Demand seems to forecast the future. After all, when we envision how much convenience we will have demanded by, say, 2020, we see instant access, unlimited choices, our choice of home screens (not just our computers), and direct piping -- if we don't actually just have movies cabled right into our skulls with a Matrix hose. (All the better to project Seinfeld reruns on the backs of our eyeballs.) Sounds great, but meanwhile VOD is just another option, albeit an almost instant one. What's new and good for the weekend, amid the usual cable dross and among the immense, inexhaustible libraries at IFC, Criterion, The Auteurs and Amazon?
The Office enjoyed a healthy ratings spike earlier this season with the televised birth of Jim and Pam's first child, and tonight, Shonda Rhima tries to birth her own Nielsen baby boom with the delivery of McSteamy's first grandchild. Tune in to see McSteamy get in touch with his inner grandpa while the Seattle Grace staff tries to get in touch with a shark hook stuck through a crab boat captain.
more »
Was it something he did? In the wake of Movieline's report that Max Weinberg met with Jay Leno to become his new bandleader -- a potentially traitorous move, considering that Leno shoved his former employer Conan O'Brien out of the Tonight Show -- word is now emerging that Weinberg will not make the move to TBS alongside O'Brien. The main question is when did this all go down, and we've got the answer.
more »
Now Mercedes will never get those solos! Time has released its list of the 100 most influential people in the entire world, and among the world leaders and philanthropists is Glee star Lea Michele, because why not? (Sadly, her apparent global influence couldn't get her more than ten seconds of screen time this week.) What other entertainment figures made the list?
more »
South Park is only halfway through its 14th season and already it has ridiculed every celebrity ever mentioned on the show, received a death threat from a radical Islamic group and been censored by its network. So how, if you are Trey Parker and Matt Stone, do you possibly top that? By tying together an intervention for a crack-addicted towel, an epic anti-Semitic rant, and a sequence in which a shark rapes a disabled child at summer camp. And you name the summer camp Lake Tardicaca. Click through to find out how those controversial parts fit together and which other figures were skewered in last night's episode, "Crippled Summer."
Yesterday afternoon, around the time Chelsea Handler was helping Jay Leno celebrate his 60th birthday on the Tonight Show stage in Burbank, a nasty rumor circulated the blogosphere about a bizarre XXX tape starring the Chelsea Lately host. And while the mythical tape went unmentioned during Leno's birthday celebration, the E! comedienne did address the tape on her show last night.
more »
Ladies and gentlemen, Jay Leno is 60. The new sexagenarian celebrated his birthday last night with the help of frequent guest and good friend Chelsea Handler, who ribbed the Tonight Show host so much that he soon joined in on the mockery, calling his primetime days at NBC a -- well, you can see that clip, and the other late night highlights you missed while tracking down stars for your fourth season of Celebrity Rehab stars, after the jump.
Thanks for nothing, nation. Last night on Idol, America's horrible texters voted to release Siobhan Magnus to the principal's office to wash the glue out of her mouth. Bastards! For irony, they muttered the lyrics to Shania's "I'm Gonna Getcha Good" as they did the deed. Damn third-grade thugs. Hate you. But now is our time to cherish the weeks spent with Siobhan, recall her greatest hits, and ponder what could've been had she entered the Top 5. And scream and scream.
· First, Steve Carell announced that he is (probably) leaving The Office after next season, and now Patrick Dempsey is rumored to be considering checking out of Grey's Anatomy. The actor, whose contract expires next season, has three feature films in development according to IMDB, including Enchanted 2. Ellen Pompeo's contract also expires at the end of next season, but she is believed to be sticking around. Earlier this year, the ABC drama lost Katherine Heigl. [Deadline]
Matt LeBlanc loses two costars, ABC orders a Russian game show, and more TV Bites after the jump.
Well, here's some great news: Bret Michaels is reportedly conscious, talking slowly, and on his way towards a recovery! That's according to his rep, who spoke to People. Still, the rocker's full diagnosis indicates that his condition is more complicated than first anticipated.
It's been 22 years since Mike Tyson last sat down with Barbara Walters (in a tense joint interview with Robin Givens), and now the heavyweight champ is scheduled to appear on The View on Friday, May 7, to promote his upcoming Animal Planet series about pigeon-racing (seriously). Go easy on him, Barbara. In other View scheduling news, Gabourey Sidibe will co-host on Tuesday, May 4. [The Wrap]
If you're a celebrity actor or actress, porn star, retired NBA player, retired professional wrestler, former child actor, former American Idol contestant, son of a Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, model, civil rights figure, or were at any time a member, session musician or roadie for Guns N' Roses... and you have a substance abuse problem, now is your chance to jump on the Celebrity Rehab bandwagon! Dr. Drew Pinsky is casting the fourth season of his VH1 reality show and so far, all of the big, tabloid-headlining "users" he wanted to treat on camera, have turned him down. Which A and B-list stars could have been the next Jeff Conaway?
more »
A lot of pressure comes with being the front-runner on American Idol, from having to perform in front of tens of millions of TV viewers every week to keeping your lead despite the banalities of the Shania Twain songbook. But one observer would like to point out perhaps the most serious challenge faced by this year's presumptive winner Crystal Bowersox: Her teeth.
more »
In case you felt E!'s True Hollywood Stories of Karen Carpenter and Growing Pains's Tracey Gold weren't didactic enough, the network just announced plans for What's Eating You?, a six-episode docuseries about eating disorders. I'm sure they didn't purposely title it to sound like an old-timey Groucho Marx game show. Frankly, even though "What's Eating You" is also an Ontario eating-disorder help resource, the details of the first few episodes make this series seem like another Hoarders gawkfest with an exploitative twist.
FILM NEWS 